Tabs

Discussing issues that The United States face both foreign and domestic. A Non-partisan viewpoint where we believe in right and wrong not right and left, hopefully forming a more UNITED States of America.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Less than one week ago, the last remaining United States troops in Iraq crossed the border into Kuwait. I am neutral in whether it was the right time to pull out our troops mainly because I do not know what else we could have accomplished while remaining there (without seriously changing our role), however, Iraq is not ready to govern itself.

As we left, Iraq has no standing Air Force meaning anyone can cross over their skies such as Iran or even Israel. In fact, one of the top Iraqi military leaders, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, said Iraq would not be ready to defend its own borders and air space until 2020. Eight years is more than enough time for Iran to turn Iraq into another Lebanon or Syria, essentially another puppet state for the radical regime. I believe the main reason we entered Iraq was to contain Iran (Iraq to the west, Afghanistan to the east) just like Iran is doing to Israel with Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip, and now maybe even in Egypt.

To make matters worse, the day after the United States military presence was non existent, the Iraqi government started making moves to possibly reignite sectarian violence. Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, issued an arrest warrant for Vice President, Tariq al-Hasemi, who is Sunni. The Vice President is now in hiding from Iraqi officials in the northern semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq and al-Maliki is now ordering Kurdistan officials to turn over the Vice President. Surely the coalition government is bound to collapse over this incident and who knows whats in store for the government. All we can do is hope this does not turn into another dictatorship.

Lastly, as reported today, deadly bombings are now starting to happen as over 50 people have been killed in the most recent attack. No matter what day, month, or year we pulled out, this was bound to happen. While it is not a coincidence, all we can do is hope the Iraqis can find the strength to pull through these terrorist attacks and not revert to another civil war. If that happens, it will not stop until a dictator is once again in power or the nation is divided up into three regions which I don't see happening.

The United States did remove an extremely evil man from power, Saddam Hussein, and did an amazing job with the "troop surge" ordered in 2007. Pulling out of Iraq in 2011 was premature if we wanted the Iraq experiment to succeed so they could have liberty and be able to defend it. While the 2020 mark was way too long into the future, it was not ideal to pull out now, especially because their defense forces are not ready. If Iraq goes back to its historical ways, history could blame President Obama because of his failure to secure a proper deal for the United States military to remain in Iraq for a couple more years. President Bush was constantly in contact with the Iraqi government to secure deals, but, Obama did not show the same due diligence. All we can do now, is hope Iraq can get the proper resources to secure itself quickly and not have the coalition government based on religious factions, collapse.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Almost a year ago, I wrote an article about the dangers of the Arab Spring. Mubarak, the former leader of Egypt, was an evil dictator, but did bring relative stability to the region. What I feared, as well as others, plus some Egyptians I know now living in the United States was more radical people would take over in the region making it less stable and giving less freedom to their citizens. As the riots in the streets happened, the Mainstream Media praised them and talked about how the Muslim Brotherhood were "moderate" and a democratically elected Egypt would be great with them in charge.

Flash forward 11 months later and things are way worse now than one year ago and are way worse the geniuses in the Mainstream Media predicted for the "new" Mid East. As the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom reported, the Egyptian military (the same military which the Mainstream Media wanted to throw out Mubarak) is now beating people at will and destroying their property.

Warning, images and video after the break may be disturbing and not appropriate for some to view:

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Tonight it is reported the North Korea Dictator, Kim Jong-IL died at the age of 69. 2011 can be remembered for many things, one of them being for the amount of dictators who died. From the death of Osama Bin Laden to Muammar Gaddafi, 2011 has been a transition of power, but not necessarily for the better. I'll be writing shortly about the latest news in Egypt proving the Arab Spring to be a disaster like some predicted 9 months ago.

Kim Jong-un, the son of the Team American star dictator, will probably not make the region more "stable" than it currently is. In fact, since he is under 30, military leaders may not accept him as the next leader of North Korea which could start a whole new controversy in a nation that has 4th largest military in the world and has nuclear weapons. No one, not even China, knows what will happen within the most isolationist nation on Earth. Certainly, the United States, Japan, and South Korea are on heightened alert status and will be monitoring the situation closely. As the world changes, Asia could be next. China is certainly rising as scene with its military buildup, scaring neighboring nations such as Vietnam and Taiwan. Kim Jong-Il's death may bring less stability in a world struggling for power, yet it is great news the dictator is gone.

Over 3 evil leaders have been killed this year, as well as other controversial leaders killed/removed from power. Who will be next before 2012? 1-5 odds I'll take Fidel Castro, 3-5 odds is Hugo Chavez both because of their health. Wouldn't it be nice for two more "pals" to leave earth? 5-1 odds says Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel. 9-1 is Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. 20-1 odds has Bashar al-Assad of Syria, but his stock could rise quickly should NATO/US be allowed to intervene or if the opposition gains more ground. Finally at 100-1 is Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov of Turkmenistan.

There you have folks, another evil dictator gone in 2011, but now more uncertainty for the future of the world.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Let Freedom Ring and 30+ other organizations have recently sponsored a new pledge to cut, cap, and balance the budget. Back in 2009, I worked for Let Freedom Ring and helped launch Pledge to Read where over 100 members of Congress agreed to read the health care bill before voting in favor for it.*

Once again, we will find out which politicians are truly on the people's side to bring back sanity to Washington.

(Blog Postings of mine about Pledge to Read can be found here and here)

Late this evening (6/16/11), radio host Mark Levin interviewed Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) who mentioned the pledge and is working hard to get fellow members of Congress to sign it as well. At the time of this posting, Let Freedom Ring's Pledge website indicated only Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) had signed the pledge, but, based on the interview, it appears Senator DeMint has signed it as well.

Shortly after Mark Levin signed off his radio show, over 1,000 citizens signed the pledge (only roughly 100 signed it before the interview) with Levin stating a personal goal of 10,000 people signing it before he began his radio show friday radio show at 6:00 pm. The pledge was also posted on Mark Levin's facebook page.

As the national debt soars over $14 trillion, America will shortly reach its limit on the debt ceiling before it begins defaulting on its debt, and budget shortfalls in huge government programs such as Medicare, it will be interesting to see where elected members of Congress stand on the pledge and the future of our nation.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Today we may be relaxing at the beach, grilling food with the family, and/or just enjoying the day off from school, but, we should all take a moment and be grateful for the people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our nation that allows us to enjoy the freedoms we choose to exercise on this Memorial Day.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Over the past few months, Donald Trump has been saying in multiple interviews and TV Shows he has been thinking about running for President in 2012 because he loves his country. He's even used his own TV shows such as Apprentice and Donald Trump's Fabulous World of Golf to talk about his possible campaign.What puzzles me about this multi-billionaire entrepreneur, who has his name on businesses from casinos to golf courses to water bottles, is the "two headed" approach about his "possible" Presidential Bid. One side, it does it seem he loves this country and wants to save it from the huge issues we face that could easily collapse us. The other side makes it seem his "bid" is just a stint to keep his name (and more importantly his brand) in our minds and to raise the ratings of his TV shows in a magnificent advertising/PR stint. I will approach this issue three ways from the good, the bad, and the mysterious (you thought I was going to say ugly instead of mysterious didn't you????).First,The GoodDonald Trump is a capitalist and it has been awhile since we have had a true capitalist in the White House. He understands the economy just as well as anyone else on Earth and knows how to rescue a business after it has gone bankrupt multiple times. Maybe he could do the same for our country. With him having little to no political experience, this will also help him when Americans feel it's being in politics long enough that corrupts people and gets them "out of touch" with the average person.On The IssuesHe also gets it on some issues when no one else in Washington does. When it comes to our image in the World, he claims "We're no longer respected." Looking at the new superpower,China, he's not afraid to share his opinion saying "They are not our friend...[Chinese people have] told me very, very distinctly that they cannot believe how stupid our representatives are in the United States. They cannot believe that they can continue to take all our jobs...through the manipulation of the currency, of their currency, they make it almost impossible for our great companies to compete." He explains further, "China should have a currency which is a much higher value relative to the dollar and other things. What they’re doing is keeping it low, artificially low. And I mean seriously artificial. I don’t just mean a little bit low. I mean major low...The fact is that the Chinese are taking advantage of our country."He gets it. China is making it impossible for America to compete with Chinese prices even though our quality is much better than Chinese manufacturing. His solution?Trump said, "I would tell China that if you don’t straighten out your manipulation of the currency — and I mean fast; I mean really fast — we are going to tax your products 25%. Now, what that will do is two things. Number one: Immediately will start doing our own manufacturing. We don’t have to make toys that are coated with lead paint in China. We can make good toys in Alabama and North Carolina."He also has a very interesting and unique opinion on America having troops in developed countries such as South Korea, "Now, two months ago when bombs started getting lobbed [into South Korea] by North Korea and we send this incredible aircraft carrier, theGeorge Washingtonand 17 destroyers heading right to North Korea, all of a sudden [South Korea] announce that they are friends of our country. It’s a lot of crap. They make billions of dollars of, let’s call it profit, off the United States...billions of dollars.Why aren’t they paying for protection?We protect South Korea [and they should pay for that]."The last issue Donald Trump has strong opinions about is OPEC, which sets the standards of the amount of oil production and the cost of the oil per barrel. On Opec, Trump says, "OPEC has got a monopoly... they have 12 men, in this case all men, they sit around the table, any time there’s a minor incident in the world they raise the price of oil because, you know, they figure, well, nobody’s gonna call. When oil goes over $[1]40 a barrel it’s almost impossible for our country to do well. That’s what it is. You look at oil, we’re up to a hundred now, we’re heading up, they keep raising it, when oil goes over $[1]40, watch what happens. And the stock market is gonna end up being a big Ponzi scheme because the only thing that’s doing well in this country is the stock market"On these issues, he gets it. It is also why in a recent poll he is tied for second place with 17% of Republican primary voters in a field of GOP candidates.The Bad

Memo to anyone planning on running for President. It may not be a good idea to have a Roast on national television, such as on Comedy Central, as comedians totally rip you apart and there is nothing more unprofessional than Mike "The Situation" from MTV's Jersey Shore trying to poke fun at a possible President of the United States. The roast has some quotes that could easily rival Tina Fey's "I can see Russia from my House" moment on SNL. The roast screams he is doing the "Presidential Bid" purely for PR purposes for his show and his brand.Trump has to stop claiming he is a republican. He is however, a capitalist, which he should use to his advantage. The reason why he is not a republican is because anyone "right of center" would never donate $50,000 to a campaign for political office to someone like Rahm Emmanuel, the former chief of staff of President Obama and now the Mayor of Chicago.

A republican would never claim in 2007 that Nancy Pelosi, when she was Speaker of the House, as "The Best" and also claim, "I get along with everybody. I'm very proud of that," Trump also said, "I get along with all of these people." George W. Bush thought he got along with "both sides" as Governor of Texas and thought he could do the same in Washington, look how well that worked for him.

Is this a Democrat whose heart has changed? After all, the "gold standard" person of Conservatism was a flaming liberal before he switched parties. Maybe Trump did the same as Ronald Reagan, but continue to read on which makes me think otherwise.

The IssuesBesides the issues I labeled above, does anyone know his opinion on Abortion, Gay Marriage, The 2nd Amendment, or other issues that probably won't be changed during a Presidency, but, is the sole issue for a sizable amount of people when they vote? He is also going to have to share his opinion on many other issues that he may not care too much about, but, they have to be addressed.

His image could hurt him. As Americans struggle, can people who see a wealthy boss who's most known for "firing people" on his show and has the intro of "Money, Money, Money.........Money" showing greed and giving him the appearance of being a jerk going to help him? He may have to try and change his image before primary season.

The Mysterious

Two issues make this whole bid mysterious. One is his recent status of now being the most famous "Birther." They are people who doubt/don't think President Obama was born in Hawaii because he has not shown his Birth Certificate (Obama did show a Certificate of Live Birth, which is different) and since he has no proof of being born in the United States (or should solid proof arise he was born in a different country) he cannot be President of the United States.

Trump has recently claimed that he has investigators in Hawaii, and they cannot believe the evidence they have so far that indicate Obama may have been born in Kenya or Indonesia. Before this claim, Trump thought Obama may have been scared to show his Birth Certificate because it may have had something on it he didn't want the American People to know, such as him being a Muslim. Now he has gone one step further and is almost claiming he has enough evidence that would make the Watergate Scandal look like a slow news day.

The other mysterious issue is how long has he been planning the Presidential Bid??? It has just been reported by RadarOnline that Trump2012.com was registered by Donald Trump back in 2004. How could someone who "recently" (as in the past 3 years) is "deeply concerned" about his country and have a Presidential campaign website registered over two presidential election cycles ago? Meanwhile since he registered that site, he has been campaigning for liberal democrats and now claims to always have been a republican?

Whatever your opinion of Donald Trump is, he will certainly (albeit probably briefly) change the political landscape should he decide to be ambitious and run for President of the United States. Trump claims he will announce his decision before or during the month of June.-Christian N.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Two months ago (last blog posting), I created a map of what I thought the Middle East could become under the power of one ruler. I dubbed it the "New Persian Empire". Maybe I should have called it a different name, however, the possibility of the entire region (and even further, possibly including Morocco and other nations I didn't put "within" the boarders) being ruled by one person, a Caliphate is now more real than ever.

MARCH 19, 2011

OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...

MARCH 19, 2003
BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger'...

I'm torn on us being involved in Libya. I do think Colonel "nutjob" Gaddafi should be killed or brought to justice because of previous crimes he committed such as the Pan Am flight bombing over Lockerbie and the bombing of the German nightclub that killed many Americans. If President Obama launched a Tomahawk or ordered a B-2 Bombing raid over his palace, I'd say "bravo" and we would all move on. I do not think we should be meddling with a nation's civil war, especially because we do not have a defined mission. Must Gaddafi go or just stop killing his own citizens or do we want an East Libya and a West Libya?

If the Obama Administration, NATO, and the United Nations were serious about removing Gaddafi, the no fly zone would have happened weeks ago. Also, a No Fly Zone alone will not accomplish a goal of removing Gaddafi, or even him stopping a civil war. As we saw in Kosovo in the 90s, you need troops on the ground, and we all know we can't afford a 3rd front. This leads to the third main issue, how long will we be involved? There is a difference between launching a couple hundred missiles and a few B-2 bombing raids (as CNN is reporting) taking out military targets and us being involved for months or years.

The whole Mid East is on fire, which is why I don't like how we are picking and choosing our fights. What's next, we have to protect the citizens in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or Bahrain who are being killed by their governments while citizens are unarmed? Again, I want Gaddafi killed, but I do not want a 3rd (or more) war, especially in the Mid East.

Monday, January 31, 2011

With the recent riots in Tunisia, Egypt, and now appears to be heading to Jordan and possibly Saudi Arabia I can only come to one conclusion.

Iran wants a new empire, to control the Suez Canal and almost all the World's Oil to crush The United States economically (since it can't defeat us militarily) and completely surround Israel to destroy them as they have stated numerous times.

Of the Countries within the bold boarder, only Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq are mostly/completely sovereign from Iran. The other nations now have radicals within them attempting to take over (Egypt, Pakistan, Tunisia, Yemen) and the rest are puppet governments funded by Iran and/or are strong allies of them.

In the case of Egypt, yes Mubarak is a dictator, however, he is an ally of the United States. Yes, Egypt should have free and open elections, but the group leading the riots, the Muslim Brotherhood, has publicly stated that Israel should prepare for war against the "new" Egypt. This will be a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" only that the new boss will suppress more rights of the people of Egypt, become an enemy of the United States and Israel, and most likely be a puppet of Iran.

This is why holding Egypt as an ally is key. If we lose it, all of Northern Africa goes into chaos because the superpower in the region fell, as well as the Middle East, with Iran ready to take over the region.

This is why we need to get off of foreign oil, drill our own (plus with other solutions), because if we don't, we could be next in the category of chaos.

About Me

In case if you were wondering, CREN, are my initials and I decided to make that my website name. I have been interested in politics since the close election in 2000 with the tight race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Since then I have and still remain interested in the studies of U.S. History and Political Science. I would consider myself a conservative however I'm not affiliated with any party as I am sick of the corruption in both the Democratic and Republican parties. They are taking us down the same path eventually will result in the destruction our nation. I believe in the politics of right and wrong not right and left. George Washington refused to be part of a political party because he thought a 2 party system (then the Federalist or Democrat-Republican parties at that time) would ultimately destroy our nation.
I'm a writer for several newspapers across America and Canada, and also work for political organizations.
If you have any opinions, questions, and/or viewpoints, please see the contact form on the blog.